A Guide to Feeding our Future

Archive for the ‘Inspirational Stories’ Category

This weekend, we pay tribute to mothers! Mothers are often the ones who create the foundation for health in many ways for their families. One way is through instilling proper eating habits in the home. Young children who learn how to prepare wholesome food in a pleasant home environment, are more likely to do this later in life and become healthier, more self sustaining adults. The value of this cannot be expressed enough! If you are a mom who is committed to helping your family by training them how to prepare fabulous meals, we say “Bravo!” If you had a mom who gave to you this great gift, now would be a good time to say “Thank You!”

“I am a 40 year-old single mother to 3 (my oldest is 5) who has had serious digestive problems my entire life. As a child, I was (literally) force-fed bologna and cheez whiz on white bread with ketchup even though it made me physically ill. In my 20’s, I became so ill that I lost 50 lbs! I had it to lose, but at 100lbs I did not look healthy, or feel good. I didn’t know what to do. All medical tests came back as “normal”, although I couldn’t digest anything and was dealing constantly with diarrhea, vomiting, severe pain and my skin and hair were not good either. At 28, I stopped eating the typical North American diet and became known as a bit of a “whacko” in my circle of friends and colleagues because of that.

I became quasi-vegetarian at that point (still eating fish), as that is when I realized, after omitting many processed items from my diet, that processed foods and meats made me very ill. I kept cheese for a few years, despite the pain, and 4 years ago I went vegan. I have been vegan through my last pregnancy (a high risk twin) and was able to keep the pregnancy and carry to term! (I have had 6 miscarriages and SEVERE menstrual pains all my life). Since I cleaned up my diet, I do not have the same menstrual pains, they are much lighter and in fact are quite bearable…before, I would have to take a day off work and be in bed with a hot water bottle and bottle of Tylenol. I have more energy than I did before, I am more motivated to move through the day, I have more patience with everyone, including my children, and I feel better. I am at a healthy weight, and I don’t even have time to work out as I would like to but I don’t gain weight. I’ve stayed at the same weight since the twins were 6 months old: 115 lbs on a 5’2” frame. I am no longer a vegan, but eat very close to that.

And food tastes better. Real food tastes good to me; chemically-processed food does not taste good anymore, at all. This is for sure a bonus!

I also have a thyroid problem, and by simply omitting the foods that cause problems with hormone upload in the thyroid, I am able to keep this condition at bay, and do not need to take medication – another amazing example of how important our food really is to us!